Current Affairs 7 3 2018

With a fortune worth $110 billion, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the world`s richest man and tops a 2018 Forbes Magazine list of billionaires. According to the Forbes, Bezos is the first person to top $100 billion as number one on the Forbes list of the World`s Billionaires. Microsoft founder Bill Gates is second ($90 billion), investment guru Warren Buffet third ($84 billion), Bernard Arnault and family fourth ($72 billion), and Facebook founder-CEO Mark Zuckerberg fifth ($71 billion). Indian industry titan Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, is 19th on the list. He`s valued at $40.1 billion.

Mukesh Ambani’s net worth has soared to $40.1 billion, making him the richest Indian for the 11th year in a row, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos toppled Bill Gates as the world’s wealthiest person, says Forbes.

Global Rank of the richest Indians on the Forbes list with assets over $8 billion.

19 Mukesh Ambani ($40.1 billion, petrochemicals, oil & gas)

58 Azim Premji ($18.8 billion , software services)

62 Lakshmi Mittal ($18.5 billion, steel)

98 Shiv Nadar ($14.6 billion, software services)

115 Dilip Shanghvi ($12.8 billion, pharmaceuticals)

127 Kumar Birla ($11.8 billion, commodities)

143 Uday Kotak ($10.7 billion, banking)

151 Radhakishan Damani ($10 billion, investments, retail)

154 Gautam Adani ($9.7 billion, commodities, ports)

170 Cyrus Poonawalla ($9.1 billion, vaccines)

176 Savitri Jindal ($8.8 billion, steel)

176 Sunil Mittal ($8.8 billion, telecom)

According to Forbes’ 2018 ‘World’s Billionaires’ list, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani’s wealth surged a whopping 72.84% to $40.1 billion— highest among the 119 Indian billionaires on the list.

2- India to join multilateral lender EBRD

India has got the go-ahead to join the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), after shareholders of the London-based multilateral lender agreed to the country becoming its 69th member, enabling Indian companies to undertake joint investments in regions in which the EBRD operates.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is an international financial institution founded in 1991.

Its headquarters is in London, United Kingdom

3- Marshall Islands to be first to issue own sovereign cryptocurrency

Marshall Islands which is located in Pacific Ocean is going to become first country in world to recognize crypto currency as its legal tender and adopt transparent crypto.

The parliament of island has passed law to create the digital currency called “Sovereign” with symbol SOV.

The Marshall Islands is partnering with Israeli fintech startup Neema to launch its SOV.

4- Bengaluru’s first 3-D map to harness solar energy

India`s first helicopter taxi service was launched in Bengaluru to fly passengers from Kempegowda International Airport to Electronic City. The service is expected to reduce the time taken to cover the distance from 2 hours to 15 minutes. The helicopter will seat up to six people apart from the pilot and the service will cost Rs3,500 plus GST.

For the first time in the country, researchers deployed an advanced Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system on a helicopter to draw up a 3D map of Bengaluru city, to assess the potential for harnessing solar energy over each building, and provide civic agencies the data for better planning of all amenities in the state capital.

The study, carried out by researchers at the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP).

5- Conrad Sangma sworn in as the 12th chief minister of Meghalaya.

6- Biplab Kumar Deb will be the next chief minister of Tripura. Tripura BJP president and newly-elected MLA Biplab was unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislature party in the state.